The deal struck between Britain, France and Germany on the future of European defence is good news for those
who believe that the EU should focus more on military capabilities than institutions. Now that the three have
agreed to set up an EU military planning cell – an item which will make very little difference in the real world,
despite the highly-charged negotiations surrounding it – the EU can move ahead with what matters. And that is
not only boosting Europe’s military capabilities, but also preparing to take over NATO’s peacekeeping mission
in Bosnia.
The agreement on military planning is one fruit of the increasingly close co-operation on foreign and defence
policy between London, Paris and Berlin. Yet it is only six months since France and Germany, together with
Belgium and Luxembourg, produced plans for a ‘core Europe’ defence organisation that excluded Britain. That
scheme deepened the divisions caused by the Iraq war and convinced many Americans that France and Germany
were determined to undermine NATO.
Emotions have subsided since the spring. President Jacques Chirac and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder have
abandoned their plans for a defence core. They now believe that European foreign and defence policies cannot
take shape without the UK. For the sake of an agreement with the British they have diluted their original plan
for a military headquarters that could run an EU operation. Instead a small unit of operational planners will
join the existing EU military staff, as part of the Council of Ministers secretariat.
Tony Blair, too, has had to compromise, by accepting the principle that the EU may need to do its own
operational planning, and by agreeing that this unit may one day evolve into a real headquarters – if everybody
agrees that it should do so. But in return France and Germany have agreed to change two contentious parts of
the EU draft constitution: the article committing members to defend each other if attacked will be greatly
watered down, while that allowing a group of countries to move ahead with a defence avant-garde has been
revised so that it is focused on military capabilities.
More importantly, Blair has reasserted British leadership in European defence, one of the few areas where Britain
is well qualified to set the EU’s agenda. Following the Iraq war, Blair had a credibility problem in some parts of
Europe, being seen as President George Bush’s lackey. His new commitment to EU defence will help to dispel
that image and restore British influence in the EU.
Initial reactions in Washington have not been favourable. Since Blair came up with the idea of an EU role in
defence, five years ago, he has often had to expend energy on persuading first President Clinton, and then
President Bush, that European defence would not damage NATO. This time Blair will find the task more
difficult, for Washington has become increasingly hostile to giving the EU a role in defence. That is a
consequence of the rampant Francophobia that is particularly strong in the Pentagon, where European defence
is seen – wrongly – as a French invention.

The gang of four
The summit on April 29th of the leaders of Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg did a great deal to sour
opinion in Washington. The four leaders agreed to co-operate more closely on defence matters in seven ways.

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Six of these were not particularly controversial. But the seventh was the Belgian idea for the establishment of an
EU operational planning staff in the Brussels suburb of Tervuren.
The argument for this initiative is that if, as the EU-15 have agreed, the EU should be able to conduct
autonomous operations, it will need its own operational planners. The argument against, put by those
governments excluded from the April 29th summit, is that the EU can rely on NATO planners at SHAPE for a
so-called Berlin-plus operation, like that in Macedonia, when it decides to work with NATO; or the EU can use
a national headquarters, duly modified to reflect the nationalities of those taking part in the mission, as it did
for the mission to Bunia in the Congo, when a French HQ was in charge.
The counter-argument is that only the larger EU countries have suitable national headquarters, and that many
smaller members would like to participate in an EU planning group, rather than second staff to a headquarters
run by a big country. The response from the Anglo-Saxons is that if the EU had a very small HQ of just a few
dozen people, it would lack the capacity to manage a military mission, while if the EU had a large operation it
would duplicate and in the long run rival SHAPE.
These technical arguments, however, were not the issue. For the Belgian proposal, strongly backed by Gerhard
Schröder and Jacques Chirac – against the advice of their foreign and defence ministries – was of huge political
importance. The four governments involved were the same four which had blocked NATO aid for Turkey in
January and February. That the ring-leaders of the EU’s anti-war camp should try to set up a core European
defence organisation, with its own operational planning staff, had an obvious message to American, British,
Spanish, Italian and east European eyes. This was an initiative designed to undermine NATO – and exclude the
British from the one area where they are able to play a leading role in European integration. Moreover, this
initiative was not just about defence: the French and German governments had for years dropped hints that they
wished to establish some sort of core Europe, which would provide leadership to an enlarged EU. They hinted
that such a core Europe should exclude those who were not committed to putting Europe first, a category which
certainly included the British and the east Europeans.
The gang of four denied that their initiative was intended to bring about these consequences. But they did see it
as historically significant, in the way that earlier initiatives on the single currency had been. They reckoned that
defence was the next big area for European integration and they were not prepared to let Anglo-Saxon hostility
deflect their purpose.
The concept of an EU staff of operational planners is, in itself, not a big deal. It is probably desirable, if in the
long term the EU is to engage in medium-sized autonomous operations. But given the context in which the
Tervuren initiative was launched – with Europe split into two hostile camps – the timing was extraordinarily
foolish. This scheme jiggled the knife in the wound between New Europe and Old Europe. It made everyone
mistrust everyone else’s motives. And, worst of all, it caused delight among the Pentagon hawks. Their ambition
is to maintain the wound between New and Old Europe, to practice a policy of divide and rule, and the April
29th summit achieved exactly that purpose.
In Washington senior figures in the administration viewed the Tervuren proposal – however misguidedly – as an
attempt to create an alternative to NATO, and thus to weaken the alliance. They have added it to the other
things coming out of Europe which they dislike. One was the manner in which the EU embarked on the mission
to Bunia: EU ministers did not discuss the operation with NATO, to work out which organisation was better
suited to send the troops, but unilaterally decided to dispatch peacekeepers. Another annoyance has been the
constitutional convention. The draft version of the constitution presented in July 2003 contained a mutual
assistance clause which seemed to imply that the EU could become a collective defence organisation to rival
NATO. It also had provisions for ‘structured co-operation’, which would allow a sub-group of members to
move ahead with defence integration. In Washington that looked like a way of formalising the results of the
April 29th summit. During the course of this year opinion in Washington has shifted strongly against ESDP.
Europeans should worry about this; it will be very hard to make ESDP work if the Americans are actively
opposed to it.

Big three co-operation revives
Meeting in Berlin in September, Schröder, Chirac and Blair sketched out the framework for a compromise on
European defence, and in late November the details were finally agreed. The deal involves three elements.

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First, the EU will deploy a small group of operational planners to SHAPE, NATO’s planning headquarters near
Mons. This group will work on ensuring a smooth relationship between the EU and NATO on ‘Berlin-plus’
missions, when the EU borrows NATO assets. There will also be a new unit of operational planners for the EU’s
military staff, which currently consists mainly of ‘strategic planners’ (their job is to advise EU foreign ministers
on the operational plans that may come out of SHAPE or a national military headquarters). The new unit,
located in the EU Council secretariat, will help with the planning of EU military missions. It has been agreed
that, when the EU conducts an autonomous EU mission, a national headquarters will normally be in charge.
However, if there is unanimous consent, the EU may ask its operational planners to play a role in conducting
an autonomous mission. They would need to be beefed up with additional resources before they were able to
run a mission on their own.
Second, the inter-governmental conference will amend the treaty articles on ‘structured co-operation’, so that
the rationale of the avant-garde group becomes the enhancement of military capabilities. A separate protocol
will describe what the structured co-operation will do, which will be to become, in effect, a kind of capabilityenhancement club. The criteria required for entering the club will not too stringent – for example the country
concerned must have forces ready for action in 5 to 30 days, which can be sustained on a mission for 30 days
– which means that it will be not be exclusive. While neutrals or others which are uninterested in boosting their
capabilities may wish to stay outside, the majority of member-states will probably join. The way the protocol is
drafted, structured co-operation cannot be about military operations, nor about a small group of countries
establishing new institutions or headquarters. The British are therefore happy with these arrangements, which
is why they have agreed that the European Council should be able to formally trigger the structured cooperation by QMV.
Third, the treaty articles on mutual military assistance will be amended. The mutual defence clause in the
detailed part three of the constitution has been deleted altogether. The more general article in part one of the
constitution has been watered down, with references to members aiding each other ‘in accordance with Article
51 of the UN Charter’, and to NATO remaining ‘the foundation of members’ collective defence and the forum
for its implementation’. Thus the EU will not be making claims to be a collective defence organisation of the
sort that could rival NATO.

Blair’s central role
Tony Blair’s role in the revival of European defence co-operation has been crucial. For the British government
has not been firmly behind his efforts to promote EU defence. Much of the Ministry of Defence, and even parts
of the Foreign Office, were not enthusiastic about compromising with the French and the Germans on planning
staffs. They knew how badly the Bush administration would react. But 10 Downing Street has led on this
dossier, forcing the other Whitehall departments to follow.
Blair also plays an essential role in reassuring other interested parties that big three co-operation on defence is
not harmful. There is probably no one else who is capable of reassuring Washington that EU defence will not
harm NATO or American interests. He has a powerful argument to use with the Americans. If Britain blocked
any EU role in operational planning, France and Germany would probably go ahead – with a few of their friends
– to set up some sort of multinational military headquarters outside the EU. And that could develop in a way
that harmed NATO. But if the British are part of the new EU planning arrangements, they can steer them in a
NATO-friendly direction. Blair is likely to persuade Mr Bush, if not everyone in the Pentagon, that he is doing
the right thing.
Other Europeans countries need reassurance, too: the smaller ones tend to get worried when the big three
concoct a deal. The Central and East Europeans, in particular, are fans of NATO who have often had doubts
about an EU role in defence. But when Blair – whose Atlanticist credentials cannot be doubted – tells them that
they need not worry, they are inclined to believe him.
Together with Jacques Chirac, Blair conceived the idea of EU defence, five years ago. The Iraq war nearly killed
the infant. But Blair’s pursuit of a policy of compromise with France and Germany this autumn has breathed
some new life into European defence.
Charles Grant is director of the Centre for European Reform,
This note is based partly on a piece written for the Winter 2003 NATO Review.
December 2003